A Paperwork Journey to India

Business is going well. So well, in fact, that you are thinking of expanding overseas to India. You send an employee there on business-visitor status to meet with some key people. You may even go yourself. After a few years of solid growth, you decide to send an employee to live and work there for a year or more. Things are looking up—until you get a call from the U.S. Embassy in India: Your employee is being deported and fined for working without a proper visa.

A scenario like this is entirely possible—and entirely preventable. Noncompliance with Indian immigration laws could lead to penalties, fines, deportation, and barred entry. By taking the steps necessary to attain work visas, working in India can be business as usual.

Be Prepared

“A lot of Americans don’t realize that Indian immigration rules aren’t as easy as they think,” explains Laura Danielson, the immigration department chair at Fredrikson & Byron, P. A., a Minneapolis-based law firm. “The novice doing business in another country that needs a permit often has no idea that it could take weeks or even months to get that documentation in order.” She recommends starting the visa application process for business travel at least six months in advance of departure.

In some ways, the process is being streamlined. Since October 2007, the Indian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and the Consulates General of India in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Houston have outsourced the Indian visa collection and delivery processes to a third party called Travisa. Applications made in person are generally processed the same day, and applications made via mail take about five to seven working days to process.

But Poorvi Chothani explains that while visa applicants file through the U.S.-based Indian consulate and visa collection service, the entry, stay, movements, and departure of foreign nationals in India are regulated by various Indian acts and rules. Chothani, owner of LawQuest, a law firm in Mumbai, is the business contact who assists Danielson’s clients with immigration issues. In a paper Chothani presented at the International Bar Association conference on immigration last year, she said that most foreign nationals visiting India on a visa that permits a stay of more than 180 days must register with the Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office. Within 14 days of arrival, visitors must appear in person with their relevant documents at the specific registration office that has jurisdiction over the place where they intend to stay.